System and Method for Combining Group Buying with Regular Selling

Abstract

A system and method of combining group buying with regular selling is provided. A group-buying company advertises a first product for sale from a group-buying website. The first product is a group-buying deal with deep discount offered for a short period of time. The group-buying websites also provides recommendation information on one or more products based on the first product. The one or more recommended products are supplied by another non-group-buying company. Consumers are able to purchase the one or more recommended products from the group-buying website.

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 advertising, via a display screen, a first product for sale from a group-buying website, wherein the first product is a group-buying deal with discount from original pricing offered for a period of time of less than a week; and   displaying cross-promotion recommendation information on one or more products based on the first product via the same display screen, wherein the one or more products are supplied by another non-group-buying company, and wherein the one or more products are available for purchase from the group-buying website.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more recommended products are determined based on personal behavior of the customer and collective behavior of buyers. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recommendation information is associated with a link to additional information of the recommended products from the group-buying website. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recommendation information is associated with a link to payment, and wherein the consumer makes payment directly from the group-buying website. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second product is a coupon, and wherein the coupon is redeemable from a local store of the non-group-buying company located near the consumer, and wherein the cross-promotion recommendation information is determined based at least in part on location information of the consumer and the local store. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a product search functionality by the group-buying website for an inventory database of the non-group-buying company.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing information of the first product to the non-group-buying company; and   receiving the recommendation information from the non-group-buying company.   
     
     
         8 . A server system, comprising:
 an advertisement module that advertises a first product for sale from a group-buying website via a display screen, wherein the first product is a group-buying deal with discount from original pricing offered for a period of time of less than a week; and   a product recommendation module that provides cross-promotion recommendation information on one or more products based on the first product via the same display screen, wherein the one or more products are supplied by another non-group-buying company, and wherein the one or more products are available for purchase from the group-buying website.   
     
     
         9 . The server of  claim 8 , wherein the one or more recommended products are determined based on personal behavior of the customer and collective behavior of buyers. 
     
     
         10 . The server of  claim 8 , wherein the recommendation information is associated with a link to additional information of the recommended products from the group-buying website. 
     
     
         11 . The server of  claim 8 , wherein the recommendation information is associated with a link to payment, and wherein the consumer makes payment directly from the group-buying website. 
     
     
         12 . The server of  claim 8 , wherein the second product is a coupon, and wherein the coupon is redeemable from a local store of the non-group-buying company located near the consumer, and wherein the cross-promotion recommendation information is determined based at least in part on location information of the consumer and the local store. 
     
     
         13 . The server of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 a product search module that provides a product search functionality by the group-buying website for an inventory database of the non-group-buying company.   
     
     
         14 . The server of  claim 8 , wherein the recommendation module provides information of the first product to the non-group-buying company and in response receives the recommendation information from the non-group-buying company. 
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
 advertising, via a display screen, a first product for sale from a group-buying website, wherein the first product is a group-buying deal with discount from original pricing offered for a period of time of less than a week; and   displaying cross-promotion recommendation information on one or more products based on the first product via the same display screen, wherein the one or more products are supplied by another non-group-buying company, wherein the one or more products are available for purchase from the group-buying website.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more recommended products are determined based on personal behavior of the customer and collective behavior of buyers. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the recommendation information is associated with a link to additional information of the recommended products from the group-buying website. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the recommendation information is associated with a link to payment, and wherein the consumer makes payment directly from the group-buying website. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the second product is a coupon, and wherein the coupon is redeemable from a local store of the non-group-buying company located near the consumer, and wherein the cross-promotion recommendation information is determined based at least in part on location information of the consumer and the local store. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 providing a product search functionality by the group-buying website for an inventory database of the non-group-buying company.   
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 providing information of the first product to the non-group-buying company; and   receiving the recommendation information from the non-group-buying company.